miles away

Most freshmen here at Drexel are from Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and other cities and towns, big and small around the US. Where am I from? I am from Mumbai. Well of course it’s not another city in the US. It’s Mumbai, India. Yes, I am an international student here at Drexel and it is my first time in the US. I have flown thousands of miles on a 16 hour long flight to get here and so long my experience has been exhilarating. Being a “Mumbai boy” for 15 years was quite enjoyable, but a 15, for the first time I was about to move from Mumbai to Singapore for high school ahead, and today I have crossed several boundaries to get to the US. The transition between Mumbai and Singapore and Mumbai and US was poles apart. At the beginning of my journey I was apprehensive, questions like “How is it going to be to stay so far away from home?”, “ Will I be able to adapt to a new place and an unfamiliar environment” and many other q’s kept bothering me. But to my surprise it wasn’t as complex and challenging as it seemed. It has been more of an adventure where I am learning a lot about ‘change’. Interacting with people from around the globe, making new friends with ease, learning about their culture, acquainting them with mine; assimilating to the way of life in a country far away from home is rather exciting.

Moving in late at Calhoun, I missed my first weekend on campus and the fraternity parties. However on a dull Tuesday evening when I was too lazy to walk up to the dining center I got a few friends to join me for dinner at Chillies. We reached the restraint at around 9pm, and placed are orders. I ended up ordering “egg roll” thinking it’s going to be stuffed with eggs, but it turned out to be stuffed with egg plant. Except that, it was my first time out with friends around the campus. During the brief 20 minutes or so, we got to know each other and were well acquainted about the basics. During the conversations during as we chewed on our appetizers , we realised many of us shared the same interests - food, music, lifestyle, hobbits etc. As we reached desert we knew pretty mush all we had to about each other. This was one my first Drexel experiences although not on a large scale, it was quite interesting. In the days to come, I hope to have many more great “Drexel experiences”